The agreement has not yet been signed, but negotiations are on track

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The head of the chamber says that some steps still need to be agreed upon with the Ministry of Health before signing the skills agreement

The municipality of Nilas has not yet signed the health efficiency agreement, but the mayor, Joaquim Amaral, guarantees that negotiations with the authority are on the “right track” and that the interests of the municipality and residents are safeguarded.

The city’s mayor tells Jornal do Centro that the Nilas Chamber has held “regular meetings and communications” with the Ministry of Health, but admits that some matters still need to be resolved before the agreement can be signed.

“Meetings have been held and progress has been made. The Ministry decided to talk to the municipalities individually, and in some matters, we are on the right track but they are not closed. When they are closed, it is normal for us to sign the authorization form, but in this negotiation phase, we have to maintain The interests of the municipality and its citizens.

The city’s mayor realizes that health is a very sensitive area and that there are issues that “cannot be decided by decree,” and he says that it is useful to negotiate decentralization with local authorities, unlike what happened in other areas such as education.

“This transfer of skills makes a difference for the better in terms of the education that has been imposed. He stressed that health, despite everything, is negotiated, which makes it possible to manage a number of things in a sector that has a great impact on people’s lives and which we want to protect.

In the “specifications” of the Nilas Chamber for decentralization, for example, the rehabilitation of the Family Health Unit of Estrela do Dão, in the old Nilas Health Center, and the USF Coração da Beira, in Cañas de Sinhorim. Businesses that, as Joaquim Amaral emphasizes, have already received guaranteed funding from the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) and the competition has been launched. The already announced investment amounts to approximately 2.9 million euros.

“We also requested that this rehabilitation include a block of the health center building, which was not originally included and is the continuing care unit, but we applied for it and want it to be within the delegation of powers,” adds the head of the chamber.

Joaquim Amaral also highlights the extension of the health units’ operating hours to 8pm on weekdays and from 9am to 6pm on Saturdays, as well as the expansions in Carvalhal Redondo and Santar that now operate regularly once a week.

In March of this year, the president of the chamber decided to postpone decentralization because he rejected the proposal presented at the time by the Ministry of Health and the Center’s Regional Health Administration, arguing that “financial, human and property resources are sufficient to achieve decentralization.” The needs of the municipality and the health units affiliated with the municipality.

Plus Nilas too Tondela and Viseu are still negotiating health skills. The president of the chamber, Carla Antunes Borges, revealed this week that she had spoken with Minister Manuel Pizarro to report on the local health situation. The mayor believes that it is still necessary to solve some health problems in the municipality, such as the placement of doctors, before decentralization is achieved.

The mayor of Viseu, Fernando Ruas, confirmed that he would not accept the health file unless it was not accompanied by “problems.” One such problem is the Alto da Caixa building, which houses Social Security and several health services in the area, including the Dau Lavois Health Center Group and the Viseu 1 Health Centre.